The present invention is directed to an Internet server and method providing a cellular telephone improved access to Internet e-mail and to Internet web pages.
With the growing wealth of information available on the Internet, and the convenience of Internet e-mail, mobility of Internet access is desired.
One mobile means for gaining Internet access is to use a laptop personal computer (PC) in conjunction with a cellular telephone to contact an Internet service provider (ISP). This provides access to Internet web pages and Internet e-mail, but at the expense of a laptop PC and an ISP subscription. Further, laptop PCs can be difficult and inconvenient to carry.
A second mobile means for gaining Internet access is to use the Nokia 9000 cellular telephone, which is a palmtop PC and a cellular telephone built into one package. However, the Nokia 9000 cellular telephone, with its large display and keyboard, is more expensive than a standard cellular telephone, is inconvenient to carry, and also requires an ISP subscription.
Another way for gaining mobile Internet access is to use an e-mail utility of a short message service (SMS) for a cellular communications system. Such mobile access requires only a cellular telephone and a subscription to the e-mail utility (which is less than for an ISP subscription), but is limited to sending and receiving Internet messages only.
The SMS of a cellular communications system provides a user of a cellular telephone the capability for sending a written message (SMS message) to another cellular telephone, the written message consisting of alphanumeric characters entered using the cellular telephone keypad. Further, the SMS allows a cellular telephone to reply to a received SMS message. The e-mail utility of the SMS allows the cellular telephone to send messages to and receive messages from an Internet station.
To send the SMS message from a cellular telephone to the Internet station, the user of the cellular telephone creates the SMS message, placing an SMS address for the Internet station in a recipient address field of the SMS message. The cellular telephone sends the SMS message, which is received by the SMS. The SMS forwards the SMS message to an Internet e-mail gateway, which provides a link between the SMS and the Internet. The Internet e-mail gateway converts the SMS message to an Internet e-mail message, and forwards the Internet e-mail message to the Internet station using the Internet. However, where the SMS address for the Internet station is not available to the user of the cellular telephone, the user must contact the Internet station and request that the Internet station send a message to the cellular telephone. In this case, the message from the Internet station is received at the Internet e-mail gateway and converted to an SMS message, at which time the SMS address for the Internet station is created. The SMS message is forwarded to the cellular telephone. The user of the cellular telephone may then reply to the forwarded SMS message.
Additionally, because the SMS limits SMS messages to 160 characters, messages greater than 160 characters sent to the cellular telephone using the SMS e-mail utility are truncated by the Internet e-mail gateway, thereby disposing of potentially important information for the cellular telephone user.
Further, where the user of the cellular telephone desires to send a communication to more than one Internet station, SMS messages must be created containing the communication for each Internet station, a time consuming activity.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above in a novel and simple manner.
An Internet server and method acquire a messaging service address of an Internet station for a user of a cellular telephone. Thus, written messages may be sent to the Internet station without first having to contact the Internet station. Additionally, an Internet server and method are provided for processing and forwarding an initial message from a cellular telephone to an Internet station, the initial message including a communication and an e-mail address for the Internet station. Thus, written messages including the communication may be sent to the Internet station via the Internet server. Further, an Internet server and method are provided for processing and delivering a message from an Internet station to a cellular telephone where the message is greater than a maximum allowable message length for the e-mail utility. In this way, the cellular telephone may receive messages greater than the maximum limit imposed by a short messaging service of the communications system. Additionally, an Internet server and method provide the user of a cellular telephone access to an Internet web page.
More specifically, an Internet server and method of acquiring for a cellular telephone a messaging service address for an Internet station using the server and a cellular communications system including the cellular telephone and a messaging service e-mail utility, where the messaging service address for the Internet station is not available, includes generating a preliminary message at the cellular telephone. The preliminary message includes a messaging service address of the server in a recipient address field and an e-mail address of the Internet station. The preliminary message is sent to the server using a mobile service provider, an Internet e-mail gateway, and the Internet. The e-mail address of the Internet station is extracted from the preliminary message at the server using an address extractor. An e-mail generator generates a reply message to the cellular telephone, where the reply message includes the e-mail address of the Internet station in a sender address field. The e-mail dispatcher sends the reply message from the server to the cellular telephone.
An Internet server and method are provided for processing a message from a cellular telephone to an Internet station using the server and a cellular communications system including a cellular telephone and a messaging service e-mail utility, where the initial message is generated at the cellular telephone, the initial message including an Internet server address of the server in a recipient address field, an e-mail address of the Internet station and a communication. The initial message is received from the cellular telephone at the server. The e-mail address of the Internet station is extracted from the initial message at the server using an address extractor. A message extractor extracts the communication from the initial message at the server, and a message is generated by an e-mail generator at the server, the message including the e-mail address of the Internet station in the recipient address field, and a communication. The message is sent by an e-mail dispatcher to the Internet station.
An Internet server and method for processing and delivering a message from an Internet station to a cellular telephone using the server and a communication system including the cellular telephone and a messaging service e-mail utility where the message is greater than a maximum allowable message length for the e-mail utility includes receiving the message from the Internet station at the server. The message includes a server e-mail address of the cellular telephone in a recipient address field and a communication. The server e-mail address of the cellular telephone is extracted by an address extractor at the server. A message extractor extracts the communication from the message. An e-mail divider divides the communication into a plurality of portions at the server, each portion being less than the maximum allowable message length. An e-mail generator determines an e-mail address for the cellular telephone, and generates a plurality of messages, each message including the e-mail address of the cellular telephone in the recipient address field and one of the portions of the communication. The messages are sent by an e-mail dispatcher to the cellular telephone.
An Internet server and method of accessing an Internet web page having an Internet web page address from a cellular telephone using the server and a communication system including the cellular telephone and a messaging service e-mail utility includes generating a request message at the cellular telephone. The request message includes a messaging service address of the server in a recipient address field and the Internet web page address. The request message is sent to the server, and an address extractor extracts the Internet web page address from the request message at the server. The Internet web page is accessed at the server using an Internet accessor. A content of the Internet web page is received at the server, and an e-mail address of the cellular telephone is determined. An e-mail generator generates a message, the message including the e-mail address of the cellular telephone in the recipient address field and the content of the Internet web page. The message is sent by the e-mail dispatcher to the cellular telephone.
In one aspect, the content of the Internet web page is greater than a maximum allowable message length for the e-mail utility, and a divider divides the content into a plurality of portions less than a maximum allowable message length. The e-mail generator generates a plurality of messages, each message including one of the portions of the content and including the e-mail address of the cellular telephone in the recipient address field. The plurality of messages are sent by the e-mail dispatcher to the cellular telephone.